This past week, the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II was commemorated. It was on August 15, 1945, that Japan, the last axis power, announced its surrender to the allied powers after two devastating nuclear bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was a brutally destructive end to the most destructive period in human history.

From 1939 to 1945, the world was in a constant state of flux as the competing sides fought for geopolitical control. Although the allied powers (initially led by France and the U.K., later joined by the U.S. and Russia) prevailed in the end, it looked very bleak indeed for the first few years of the war. The axis powers of Nazi Germany and Italy had taken most of Europe and the French colonies in Africa, while Japan was quickly gobbling up areas of China, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. Only after 1944 did the allies reverse the trend, first taking back Europe and then pivoting to Asia. The war officially ended on September 2, 1945, with Japan’s signature of the instrument of surrender.

The video below shows how the political boundaries of the axis, allied, and other powers shifted during every single day of the war from 1939 to 1945. YouTube channel Emperor Tigerstar is remarkable in putting together videos of maps which illustrate the change in political power over periods of time, such as the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. This video is a great example of how a well-made map can often explain a story better than words ever could. As you watch the front lines change, and listen to audio from speeches given by figures such as President Franklin Roosevelt, you can almost picture these historical battles happening before your eyes.

During the six years of the war, over 70 million people died in total. Violence of this magnitude has, thankfully, not been replicated since. The two atomic bombs dropped over Japan have also been the only nuclear weapons to be used in war so far. As we remember the events of 1945, let’s also recognize the importance of restraint and diplomacy in resolving international conflicts in the future. The great turmoil and destruction of the war have become a memory which grows ever more distant. As political extremism around the world is once again on the rise, let us hope that such levels of destruction never return.

As President Obama noted in a speech last week, the biggest change that National Geographic has had to make to its atlases since the fall of the Soviet Union has been the change in the Arctic Ocean. Climate change has caused a dramatic reduction in the amount of ice covering the region over a relatively short period of time. Accordingly, National Geographic has had to keep making adjustments in each new edition of its atlas.

Just watch this gif to see how the depiction of the Arctic Ocean has changed in these atlases from 1999 to 2014:

The retreat of the ice is moving at the alarming pace of 12 percent per decade, according to National Geographic, and it even appears to be speeding up in recent years. The acceleration is caused by a certain feedback loop: ice becomes thinner, so more water is absorbed by the ocean, warming the water and melting more ice. As the ice melts further, it will eventually cause ocean levels to rise around the world. Island nations such as Tuvalu have been particularly concerned about their survival over the next several decades.

You can read thousands of words about the effects of climate change, but it won’t have the same effect as viewing a single map (or even better, a gif of several maps to show the change over time). Watching the Arctic icecap vanish is a shocking sight, and very disheartening for those struggling to slow down and reverse the trends of climate change. Nearly all scientists agree that warming temperatures and increasingly erratic weather patterns have potentially catastrophic consequences for the earth as a whole. Let’s hope it’s not too late to prevent the worst of it.

In 1998, the ancient Kitora Tomb was discovered in Asuka, located in the Nara Prefecture of Japan. The tomb is relatively small but features beautiful paintings of animals (a black tortoise, a red phoenix, a white tiger, and a blue dragon) which represent the four points of the compass. Even more fascinating is a star chart on the ceiling which was discovered through further probing in 1998. In the years since, it has been the subject of a great deal of speculation as to its origins.

When was the star chart created? What does it represent? What was its purpose? These are questions upon which researchers have failed to come to universal agreement. We do know that the chart appears to depict 68 constellations in the night sky, and the rings depict the movement of celestial objects such as the sun. Japanese astronomy researchers have suggested a date of creation between 520 BC and 40 BC, which could make this the oldest surviving star chart of its kind. Evidently, the chart was created several hundred years before the Kitora Tomb itself.

Researchers Matsuru Soma and Tsuko Nakamura have come to the same conclusion with regard to the star chart’s vantage point: China. They believe that the view of the sky shown in the Kitora Tomb chart resembles the view that would be visible from modern-day Chinese cities such as Xi’an or Luoyang during this time period. A different hypothesis, from Kazuhiko Miyajima, is that the chart shows the view from Pyongyang or Seoul, in North and South Korea, respectively. Either way, it is curious that the chart depicts a view of the sky from a different vantage point from the place it was created.

An annotated diagram of the star chart makes it a little easier to understand:

There are many ways to handle the challenge of depicting the three-dimensional Earth on a two-dimensional map. Each has its advantages and drawbacks, such as distortions in the size and shape of landmasses. I think a simple Robinson or Winkel-Tripel projection does a fine job, but others would argue that any rectangular shape is inherently illogical. For these deep thinkers, we have the Dymaxion or Goode Homolosine. The most unusual one of all, the Waterman Butterfly projection, may actually be the most accurate, at least according to its creator Steve Waterman. But I still find it incredibly disorienting and hard to use.

One of the most intelligent and hilarious webcomics, xkcd, created the below graphic to explain what your favorite map projection says about you. The Theory of Knowledge blog brought this to my attention, and it tickled me in just the right way.

One of the great quixotic dreams of adventuresome travelers and political idealists is to start one’s own micronation. Virtually all of the land on the Earth has already been taken, but if you’re clever, you can find a slice of land that no nation bothers to claim or enforce their right to govern. Even if the only land available to you is a tiny rock in the ocean, at least that land is all yours. And as we know, it’s good to be the King.

Back in 2013, we looked at one charming example, Sealand, an abandoned naval fort off the coast of England which has claimed independence for nearly five decades. The Wikipedia entry for micronations has several dozen examples, and that list continues to grow with each passing year. Just this past April, two more nations declared their micro-independence: Liberland and Enclava. Today let’s take a look at these two, which are both located along the contested border between Croatia and Serbia. They both took advantage of the fact that these areas are terra nullis, i.e., land that neither Croatia nor Serbia actually claims. Despite these similarities, though, these two upstarts are not affiliated with each other, and in fact have completely different origins.

Liberland

Liberland was the first micronation to declare its sovereignty this year, on April 13th. It claims a 3 square mile triangular parcel of land along the Danube River. As of yet, its territory is forested and completely uninhabited. It is likely to remain so, because Croatia has blocked access to it, and individuals trying to reach the new nation have been detained by Croatian police. That has not dissuaded the founder, Vit Jedicka, who recommends sailing a boat down the river from one of the neighboring countries to reach Liberland.

Jedicka, a Czech politician and activist, conceived of Liberland as a libertarian paradise. According to its website, liberland.org, this constitutional republic “prides itself on personal and economic freedom”. The nation is accepting applications for citizenship on its website (over 250,000 have already applied), and welcomes all people who are tolerant and respectful of private property. The only bars to citizenship are certain political views (Communism, Nazism) and past criminal convictions. Jedicka has drafted a constitution and even created a flag for his fledgling nation.

Liberland is not currently recognized by any other nation, but it has attracted some attention. Croatia and Serbia mostly treat it as a joke, and given the fact that Liberland has claimed territory that neither country wanted, they do not seem too concerned, as long as Liberlandians don’t intrude upon their own territory. The Czech Republic has distanced itself from Jedicka’s actions, calling them “inappropriate and potentially harmful.” But positive responses have come in from political parties in Switzerland, Norway, and Spain, and at least one other micronation (the Kingdom of North Sudan) has officially recognized it. Is it possible that Liberland could become an internationally recognized nation in the future? Not likely, but considering that Liberland has only existed for less than two months, I would say it’s too early to count them out just yet.

Here is the map of the Croatian-Serbian border showing the location of Liberland, which is the green area toward the middle labeled “Siga”:

A Map of the Croatian-Serbian border. Lands in yellow are claimed by both Croatia and Serbia. Lands in green are not claimed by either. Liberland has seized this opportunity to claim the land marked “Siga”, and Enclava has claimed the tiny plot of land marked “pocket 1” (via Wikipedia)

Enclava

On April 23, ten days after Liberland formed, Enclava declared its own sovereignty. It currently claims a little glob of land upriver from Liberland. If you thought Liberland was tiny, then take a look at “pocket 1” in the map above. That’s the Kingdom of Enclava, all 0.386 square miles of it. Enclava also created all the trappings of a modern nation-state, including a currency, an anthem, and its own flag.

Enclava was initially founded on an unclaimed piece of land between Croatia and Solvenia by a group of Polish tourists who were traveling through that region. However, Slovenia stepped in and asserted that a court of arbitration had yet to determine the actual land border, so the Enclavians, rather than incite an international incident, moved their claim to their current location on the Croatian-Serbian border. Enclava has no constitution yet, but it does have a set of 24 principles, which have been adapted from the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Much like Liberland, Enclava’s guiding philosophy is personal freedom. However, Enclava seems to lack Liberland’s overt libertarian bent. It places great emphasis on “caring for others” in its mission statement and its principles contain many guarantees (such as free public education) common to modern welfare states. Although it styles itself as a monarchy, it does have a parliament with ministers who are elected by its citizens. Currently, 134 citizenships have been granted, and the website claims that it accepts requests (though they have yet to add an application form).

Where would you most like to live? Liberland or Enclava? You still have plenty of time to decide; it may be awhile before either one secures its territory and gains recognition from other countries. In the meantime, you can always start your own micronation.

The YouTube clip below gives a quick primer, using the example of Liberland, on micronation-building, for all those ambitious self-styled kings and queens out there:

In 2013, Nancy Lublin launched the world’s first crisis-intervention hotline that utilized text messaging. The Crisis Text Line (or CTL) allows anyone to send a text about their situation (such as bullying, suicidal thoughts, or physical abuse) to the number (741741), and a trained volunteer counselor will respond and provide support. This service has been so useful because many problems that people, and in particular teens, face are difficult to raise with a parent or authority figure, so texting provides a more discrete way to reach out for help. After two years, and six million texts, Lublin and the CTL team have helped a lot of people and learned a lot about the types of crises that are being experienced across the United States.

Lublin took what she learned from all those texts and launched a sister site, CrisisTrends.com. The site synthesizes the data from teens into charts and maps to show the prevalence of certain types of crises across time and geography. The data are able to show the likelihood of a text concerning a certain issue being sent at a certain time of day or day of the week. For example, suicidal thoughts tend to occur most frequently at 7pm and 8pm, followed closed by 12pm. The site also features maps ranking the states by the prevalence of each type of crisis, indicating that, somewhat surprisingly, the most anxious states are New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Hawaii, in that order. Lublin hopes that this information will lead to better services, as local support systems become better tuned into the specific problems facing their areas.

Below are a few maps from the Crisis Trends site. The first is the map of Anxiety:

Map of Anxiety (via CrisisTrends.com)

Next is the map of where teens are most affected by eating disorders. According to the data, Arkansas is ranked first followed by Maine and Virginia.

Crisis Trends is a great reminder that maps are not just good for navigation or intellectual stimulation. They can also be a potent force for social good. Spread the word about Crisis Trends so that policymakers and local officials can utilize this data to know where crises are more likely to occur and work more effectively to help those in need.

In 1884, in the city of Madaba, Jordan, an ancient floor mosaic was discovered in the ruins of a long-abandoned Byzantine church. Containing millions of tiny tesserae, the mosaic depicted important locations of the Middle East, including Jerusalem, the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, Mt. Sinai, and the Nile Delta. Greek text fills the empty spaces, explaining the religious significance of various locations throughout the area. Based on the buildings present in the map’s view of Jerusalem, it was determined that the mosaic was created some time between 542 and 570 A.D., which makes it the oldest surviving map of Jerusalem and the biblical Holy Land.

The mosaic was restored as well as it could be, but the original colors have faded and some of the pieces are missing. There are, however, numerous colorful reproductions. Below is a section from one of these reproductions, which shows Jerusalem in a prominent central position, and the Jordan River flowing into the Dead Sea at the top. This mosaic may have served as a guide for Christian pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem and other biblical sites during the early middle ages.

The Madaba Mosaic can be a little disorienting at first. The full view, shown above, has several large chunks missing, including most of the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, we are used to maps having North at the top, but this mosaic, like so many from this era, has East at the top. Even accounting for that, the orientation still does not quite make sense to me. The Nile River delta is located in the bottom right corner of the mosaic, but Jerusalem is on the left side of the mosaic. In real life, Jerusalem is East and a little North of the Nile River delta. Shouldn’t the Nile be underneath Jerusalem on this mosaic? Perhaps someone with more cartographic expertise could shed some light on this.

Today, the Madaba Mosaic is not useful for anything more than artistic appreciation. When examining it, though, I do get the sense that it was a very impressive cartographic depiction at the time it was made. The locations included are rather extensive, and if I could read all the ancient Greek, I would probably be even more impressed with the biblical information cited.

The mosaic was not in use for very long, because Madaba was conquered by the Persians in 614 A.D., then the Muslims in the 8th century, and finally the city was destroyed in an earthquake and abandoned in 746 A.D. But during the mosaic’s relatively brief life, I am sure that it helped many a traveler find his way to Jerusalem.

Minecraft is an open-world computer game that lets users build their own environments completely out of pixellated 3-D bricks. There are multiple ways of playing, but the most intriguing part of the game, to me, is that fact that you can create an entire world and share it with other players. I’ve never played Minecraft myself, but from the looks of it, the only limit to what you can create is your own imagination. You can spend a lifetime browsing through Minecraft user-generated maps online and never run out of impressive creations.

Here are a few of the most striking Minecraft creations I found, depicting some of the most popular fantasy worlds from books, videogames, and film. Enjoy!

April 24th marked the 100th anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide, the systematic killing of as many as 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire. It remains a controversial topic, since Turkey, as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, has refused to acknowledge that genocide occurred, and many of Turkey’s allies (including the U.S.), will not recognize it either, for fear of offending Turkey. It is a shame that politics has gotten in the way of widespread recognition of what really happened, because only through recognition can we heal the wounds of the past and prevent such massive tragedies from recurring. That is why I would like to take on a more serious topic than usual this week, and present a few maps which help to explain the situation in Armenia before, during, and after the genocide.

The Armenian nation stretches back to antiquity, although the size of its reach has shifted greatly over the millennia. From 83 to 69 B.C., the Armenian Empire held its largest swath of territory under Emperor Tigranes the Great. As the map below shows, Armenia stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean, including parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria.

Ancient Armenian Empire under Tigranes the Great (via Wikipedia, Robert H. Hewsen “Armenia: A Historical Atlas”. The University of Chicago Press, 2001)

However, the Armenian Empire soon lost territory to the expanding Roman Empire and never was able to regain it. In later years, the Armenians were invaded by several other large empires, such as the Seljuk Turks in the eleventh century. Great numbers of Armenians fled their homeland and settled in other countries of Europe, although many did stay, even though they were often not in control of their own land. On the eve of World War I, the the Armenian homeland was controlled by the Ottomans, but the Armenians had begun fighting for their independence, just as the Greeks before them. The Ottomans would not let them go easily.

This map shows the extent of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia (orange), areas where Armenians were living before the Genocide (shaded), the current nation of Armenia (red), and parts of neighboring countries where significant populations of Armenians live today (lighter red). As you can see, large parts of the then-Ottoman empire had high percentages of Armenians living there, although this is no longer the case.

Distribution of Armenians in the Caucasus (via Wikipedia)

An ethnic group does not suddenly vanish off the map by accident. Although Turkey claims that these Armenians died from a civil war, the evidence is clear that an organized, coordinated genocidal plan was enacted on the part of the government. In a similar fashion to the Holocaust, Armenians were deported along specified routes in order to be executed together in designated areas.

Map of Armenian Genocide (via Wikipedia)

As a result of the genocide, the Armenian presence in the area known as “Western Armenia” in Central Anatolia was terminated after over two thousand years. After World War I, in 1918, Armenia declared itself an independent nation, which the Ottoman Empire, defeated and on the verge of collapse, accepted. The new nation’s territory, however, only included the smaller, Eastern section of Armenia’s historical homeland. The map below, presented by the Armenian National Delegation to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, shows that Armenia was hoping to achieve much more.

A Map Presented by the Armenian National Delegation to the Peace Conference in Paris, 1919. (via Wikipedia; American Committee for the Independence of Armenia, New York, 1919)

Subsequent wars between Turkey, Armenia, and Soviet Russia changed the borders of the Armenian nation several more times during the 20th century. Border disputes in the region are still ongoing, including one between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Most significantly, though, Armenia is still claiming the Western Armenia region of Turkey. Armenian activists believe that achieving recognition of the Genocide is one important step towards achieving this. However, as I explained earlier, Turkey’s many important allies around the world have made greater recognition difficult.

Millions of Armenians, faced with violence and uncertainty in their homeland over the centuries, have created strong communities in other countries. Below is a map showing the extent of the Armenian diaspora around the world:

The genocide suffered by the Armenians was one of the first in modern times, but it was far from the last. Each time a tragedy on this level occurs, we hear the refrain of “never again!”, and yet, such ethnic extermination has been a recurrent evil over the past century. Rather than ignore or downplay what has happened, it is better to acknowledge it and move forward through peace and reparations, lest the cycle of violence continue. It has been 100 years without Turkey’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide, but it is still not too late.

Europe is divided in many ways, but one thing that most countries share is the Latin alphabet. Dozens of languages across the continent all use the same script, and even languages that don’t, such as Greek and Russian, share many of the same characters. The common script, however, diverges wildly from place to place when spoken aloud. Each European language has undergone its own unique evolution which affects how its letters are spoken, and it is fascinating to see how and why they diverge.

This post from Dina Rickman on i100.co.uk has 9 maps which show how selected consonants vary in sound across Europe, based on the research of post-doctoral researcher Alexander Young at the University of Washington. Today I want to look at a few of the most interesting ones.

Anyone who has studied another European language has seen how odd the letter “j” is. It did not even exist in Latin, and only became a letter later on, initially taking on the sound of “y” as a consonant. In German, it still has this sound (think “ja”). In French, “j” sounds like the “s” in “vision”, or in the French word “je”, for “I”. Spanish treats “j” just like an English “h”. It is odd to think that if you ask an Englishman, Spaniard, Frenchman, and German to read the letter “j”, you will hear four different sounds. Each one sounds right to speaker but wrong to the other listeners.

Who knew there was this much variation in how people say “r”? There are three different “r”s, and the most popular, by far, is the rolled “r”, which is often a struggle for first-time Spanish students. This is the first time that I’m learning about the “rough r” spoken in some areas of France and Germany, and I am curious to hear how it sounds. Finally, there is the “r” that the English and Irish (but not the Welsh or Scottish) are most familiar with.

G is a really odd letter, because even within one language, it can be pronounced multiple ways. In English, we have a hard “h” and a soft “g”, depending (usually) on which vowel follows the “g”. As the map above explains, the type of “g” used also depends on where the word came from. French loan words have a softer “g” (like “gem”), whereas German loan words have the harder “g” (think “gift”). Meanwhile, the French do not pronounce “g” the way the English pronounce “g” words that come from French, instead using the same sound they use for the French “j”. Go to Spain, and they say a soft “g” like an “h”, in Swedish they say it like a “y”, and in Finnish, they don’t say it at all (“g” only appears as part of “ng”). This map does not include Greek, but I can attest that the Greek version of “g”, gamma, is famously hard to pronounce for non-Speakers, being a guttural combination of a hard “g” and an English “y”. This is why the “gyro”, the Greek pita bread wrap, is chronically mispronounced.